


The Wish of Home

by Merfilly



Category: Labyrinth (1986), Monsters Inc (2001)
Genre: Crossover, Fae Magic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-15 22:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3464432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Boo is an unhappy child now, but she has been learning. A Wish will do just fine... only there is a small detour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wish of Home

"Sire you are making a dreadful mistake."

"Shut up Hogwart," was the snippy reply as the Goblin King surveyed this latest game calling to him.

"Hoggle," the dwarf protested, but he began to back away before he could get drawn further into this one. Everything was backwards, with the child wishing themselves away to the land of monsters. Somehow, Hoggle didn't think the Goblin Kingdom was what she meant.

"Such an interesting girl-child. I think she'll make a delightful goblin. Or maybe a dwarf!" he called after the retreating self-professed coward.

"You wouldn't dare!" Hoggle roared, running back up and almost… almost… kicking him in the shin.

Jareth tipped his head to one side with a lazy smile. "Since you are so certain this is such a bad idea, how about a small wager between us, oh dwarf of cowardice?"

"What are you thinking, Sire?" Hoggle asked warily.

"I bring her here as she is obviously looking to escape that dreadful mortal realm, and she will have thirteen hours to find the door she truly seeks. If she cannot, I will make her into a dwarf."

"How is this a wager between us?" Hoggle pressed, intrigued at the idea despite himself. He was the only dwarf he knew of in this faerie-land, and he didn't much care for the ones in any of the other realms he'd found so far. It made him feel special, to be the only dwarf worth mentioning!

"You cannot help her at all. This time, the child must do it without your aid."

"That's no fair! I always get to play the game!" Hoggle whined at him. "And what do I get if she wins?!"

Jareth flicked a globe out in his hand, showing Hoggle the one that got away, his truest friend, Sarah. "A portal to her, even without her calling upon you."

Now Hoggle was truly suspicious. Sarah called less and less, which meant Jareth often sulked. By the nature of the words spoken, Hoggle could not help the new girl at all, yet… he knew his king's heart. He wished the girl to win, so that Hoggle would go to Sarah. Only, being the proud fae lord he was, he could not bring himself to say it.

Hoggle was going to have to find a way to overcome his own nature of solitude and cowardice to find a way to make others help the girl then.

That way, all sides of the game would win.

* * *

Boo (she would never be 'Mary' again, not when Kitty liked her best as Boo) had grown up escaping into the closet in ways that didn't usually apply. Here she was, ten going on eleven, and all the things she needed to escape from had suddenly become a prison. Her father was a workaholic, her mother said. Her mother was an alcoholic, her father said. And neither of the two brats after her were remotely human OR like her monsters, which meant she really didn't like them either.

And they had moved. Her closet didn't work anymore. And she knew she wasn't going to be picked up on the closet radar by her best, best friends because she was Too Old. If the brats' closets had started working, it would have been easy to sneak through one of those, but no, her bratty-siblings didn't believe in monsters.

So Boo had done some reading in the books that Sully had given her. She learned that Wishes had Power, and she just had to believe strong enough to make a Wish happen.

And she did. She reached out with all her heart and soul and Wished for the monsters.

The only problem was that this place? Did not look a thing like the city she knew and loved.

"Great," she complained. "The Wish made a wrong turn." She looked around, and realized all she needed to know was if the closet doors held the same power here. If so, she'd get to her friends quickly.

* * *

Hoggle went straight to Ludo. While Sir Didymus would spread the word quicker, the small knight had no concept of discretion. Ludo, on the other hand, was big and powerful, even if he was the most gentle of beings unless provoked. Hoggle reasoned that even the Fireys would listen to Ludo rather than risk rocks rolling under their shaky little feet.

"Ludo?"

"Hruh?" the gentle giant asked.

"New kid. I can't help her, or let anyone know I helped her!" Hoggle whispered once he had climbed up on a low bench to speak in Ludo's ear. "If she finds the door she needs, the one that leads to the city of monsters, we'll have a way to Sarah, even without being called!"

"Sa~rah!" Ludo was so excited that the rocks near to them began quivering themselves into new pebbles.

"SHH!" Hoggle looked all around to be certain they were truly alone. "I need you, quietly, to make sure she finds the right door!"

"Ludo do!" the other dweller of the labyrinth promised. He then started on his way; there were a few other denizens he could convince to help this new child. After all, he missed Sarah as much as Hoggle.

"There, I've done the best I can, Sarah," Hoggle said to the thin air. "I miss you too much not to."

* * *

Jareth smiled coldly in his throne room, putting away the sphere he'd been watching. "I think we shall test the child first, before the treacherous dwarf's plan comes to fruition, my dear court!" he announced jubilantly, prompting loud cheers. With a call to the labyrinth, he set the path before the child to lead her toward the Fireys first, before Ludo could intimidate them.

Not a single goblin was stupid enough to point out that their king truly wanted this child to succeed, no matter what the rules of a Game were.

* * *

Boo had opened two different doors she found, one of which had caused the pair of skeletons in side to scream in fright. The other had led her onto a path that was going away from the many walls she had seen, which was no good. If there were no walls, there were no doors. As soon as she realized how distracted by the strange plants and noises she had been to make that mistake, she turned… and the walls weren't there!

"That is so not fair!" she said with a stamp of her foot.

"Ooh, another kid who thinks it's not fair!" came a voice, making her whirl around to see the a scrawny looking creature that was almost people-shaped and with flaming hair. Not literal flames, Boo quickly amended in her thoughts, but that color.

"Oh neat! What kind of Monster are you? Can you help me get back to Monstropolis? I'm sure they'd like you there. Can you make kids laugh? Because that's what my friends do. They make kids laugh and it gives them power. And you look funny, different than any of them, so maybe you could make a kid who is … jaded! That's the word! … laugh." She paused, because the original one had been joined by four more similar beings. "Hi!"

The five Fireys were taken aback by a kid not being scared of them, not trying to dodge them, just talking to them like they were normal. They looked around at each other, then the leader (of the moment) looked back at her.

"You're not scared?"

"No."

"Do you want to run away?"

"Only if you tell me where the door I want is," Boo told him. "Because I used a Wish to try and get to the right door, the one that goes to Kitty and Mike."

"Oh! You Wished!" The Fireys all looked wise and nodded, before they pointed in a direction. "The Hall of Doors is over that hill," the leader told her, because they did not want to get in the way of a Wish. Bad things happened to beings that did so.

"Do you want to play with us first?" a second Firey asked, popping his head off to juggle it from hand to hand. She giggled at that.

"Maybe when I know where my door is, I will come back to play!" she said. "Bye now!" She took off, jogging, and for a moment, they almost pursued, to try and make her into one of their own… but a Wish was a Wish.

* * *

Jareth frowned. If he didn't know better, he would think the Fireys had been intimidated by someone being friendly! "This just will not do. I must find a better obstacle before Hogbreath's allies find her!"

Not a goblin whispered that Jareth was not going to mind losing this Game.

"Hoggle!" one brave goblin spoke up for the absent dwarf, and was promptly hushed by his compatriots.

* * *

Boo found the very long hall with many doors. Now she was pondering the doors, her monster-training in place. The other doors she had tried hadn't been too bad, but she didn't want to go visit the Abominable Snowman or any other strange places. She just wanted to go to Kitty and be loved and safe again.

"The journey begins with but a single step, yet what step is that?" an old voice asked of her. She turned to see… a person of some kind. Not really a monster, she decided, even if he had an odd bird on his head like a hat.

"Are you a riddler?" she asked. "I met a monster who always tells riddles. She was nice. Even if she looked scary at first, with wings and a lion's body. She didn't wear a top, either, but it was okay because she was a monster."

The old being tipped his head slightly and the bird began to protest. "Do be still!" the bird squawked. "I am trying to sleep… eh, what is this, a new child?"

"Yes," the old one and Boo said in unison.

"I just want to find my door, please," Boo continued. "Do you know where the door to Monstropolis is?"

"The only way to find a door's destination is to open it," the old one told her.

"She knows that, but which door? Hmm, which door indeed." The bird looked up and down the hall, then clucked a few times.

"What if a door goes to the wrong place… or worse, home?!" Boo asked, staring at all the choices.

"Only you can find it," the old being said, before settling into a new nap, leaving her to walk the hall, looking at each door.

* * *

Ludo arrived at the hall of doors, surprised the child had already found it. The Caterpillar nor the Knockers had seen her yet, but she'd already reached this point? He suspected the Goblin King of tampering with the labyrinth again.

"Lu-do help?" he called to her, already cringing a little in reaction to the fear so many children had given him in the past.

"Careful, child," a new voice said, making Boo turn from the monster to the very glittery man with big hair. "It could be a trap, in this place filled with so much magic."

"So could you, Mr Glitter Pants," Boo said in her most condescending voice possible. "So why should I listen to you or him? I just need the right door!"

"Yet if you open a door with a danger behind it, you could be lost forever. Do you really wish to risk it? You could stay here, in this kingdom, and be safe from those who are your tormentors in the real world."

Boo hesitated. All she wanted was Kitty, but if she made a bad choice, she could wind up lost, trapped, or worse! She knew that from what they had done to Randall, to other monsters that had not adapted to being good.

She thought about the books she had read, the ones that had talked about magic, the way things worked in places that science didn't, and firmed up her resolve.

"I made a Wish. It took a wrong turn, but it has Power. And isn't done yet!" She moved from him to the more comforting big monster, a creature built like her friends in the city she was seeking. "Lu-do?" she asked, trusting more in a being that had given her a name than one offering promises that weren't what she was looking for. "I'm Boo. Help me?"

Ludo smiled and bent down to be closer, one big finger coming up to rest over Boo's heart. "Wish here." He then pointed to the doors. "Home," he said, indicating all the doors at once.

Nearby, Jareth began to frown, as the big rock-headed lug offered the key of the magic to the child. Would the child… damn.

Boo nodded once and then moved, walking to the very nearest door with eyes mostly closed. "Kitty!" she whispered fiercely before she opened the door… straight to Monstropolis.

* * *

"Still the only obnoxious dwarf in my realm, Hogwart."

"Hoggle, your majesty." The dwarf leaned on the sill of the window Jareth was sitting in, surveying his kingdom. "There is a small matter of the prize…."

Irritably, Jareth produced the sphere. "Begone my treacherous, cowardly dwarf!"

"Of course, your majesty!" Hoggle said, running off with the orb to find Ludo. They would soon see Sarah, and with any luck, it would remind her of her need of them.

Jareth waited until Hoggle was well out of sight, then smiled. Soon, Sarah would feel the pull again, reminded by her friends.

And life would be challenging once more, with the woman that had taken half of his power in defeating him as a mere girl.

* * *

Boo felt Kitty's soft arms all around her, and she held tight to her Wish, letting it shape her, until she was one of those who belonged in Monstropolis, safe from the life she had once known.


End file.
